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Gifts: Homid
The Homid Gifts Many spirits bestow breed Gifts, usually to honor ancient pacts or as rewards for past deeds. For example, tales speak of how an ancient metis helped a mole to hide from predators; in return, the mole taught the metis how to burrow into the earth to hide from his own enemies, and mole-spirits have continued to pass down the trick to metis ever since. Homid Gifts involve humanity's skills and abilities, not only as toolmakers and cultural beings, but also as conquerors of nature. Mankind's struggle to dominate the natural world has given humans great control over their environment, but also alienated them from the world they live in, producing a disquiet of the soul. Because humans have become strangers to the world of spirit, many homid breed Gifts are taught by ancestors rather than by nature spirits. Rank 1 Apecraft's Blessing Though many of Gaia’s children use tools, none have mastered them so thoroughly as humanity. The homid focuses this mastery into the tools she uses, causing their spirits to awaken and lend her aid. An ancestor spirit or spirit of a man-made object teaches this Gift. System: The werewolf spends a turn concentrating, and then the player rolls Wits + Crafts (difficulty 7). Each success reduced the difficulty by one of the next roll she makes for her character to employ a tool made by human hands. The purpose is irrelevant - this Gift is equally efficacious for attempts to repair an engine, drive a car, or fire a gun. City Running Humans are creatures of the city, raising their steel and glass nests high into the sky. This Gift allows a homid to easily scale the concrete canyons and navigate the tangled back alleys and rooftops of the urban landscape. Some lupus derisively refer to this Gift as “Climb Line an Ape”. It is taught by an ancestor spirit or urban city spirit. System: The player spends a point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the character may climb urban features at her full movement speed, and the difficulty of all Athletics rolls to navigate through cities (running down cluttered alleyways, climbing the side of buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop) is reduced by two. Master of Fire Fire spirits were among the very first to make pacts with humanity, allowing men to warm themselves, drive off wild beasts, and clear the land. The cornerstones of civilization were laid in these simple acts, granting the spirits of flame much prestige. Homid Garou remember and continue to call upon these ancient pacts to protect themselves as the final fires of the Apocalypse loom. An ancestor spirit or fire elemental teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, fire inflicts bashing rather than aggravated damage to the Garou. Persuasion This Gift imbues a homid’s words with intrinsic credibility and conviction, causing them to ring true to the ear and lay heavy on the heart. An ancestor spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). Success lowers the difficulty of all social rolls by one for the rest of the scene, and allows successful rolls to have uncommonly strong impact (such as changing long-held political views, or causing an addict to seriously reconsider the course of his life). Smell of Man To creatures of the wild, man’s scent is death. To creatures of the city, it is authority, comfort, easy meals. This Gift, taught by an ancestor-spirit, enhances a werewolf’'s human scent, infusing it with spiritual power. System: Non-supernatural wild animals lose two dice from their dice pools when interacting with the Garou, save when defending themselves or running away, and will be inclined to flee rather than attack if possible. Domesticated animals recognize the werewolf as a friend, and even trained attack dogs will do no more than wag their tails at the character unless attacked first. This Gift'’s effects are permanently active. Rank 2 Global Citizen Some homid Garou have a propensity for travel that has them able to fit in wherever they go. This Gift takes this principle a step further. The Garou blends into different cultures, and inherently understands minor cultural traditions, faux pas, and quirks. To the untrained observer, she appears part of the group. Her skin and facial structure doesn't change, but nobody seems to notice any difference in heritage. She does not become able to understand languages associated with the group; that's the purview of other Gifts such as the Speech Of The World Homid Gift and the Speech Of All Things Children of Gaia Gift. A chameleon-spirit teaches this Gift. System: This Gift effectively makes the Garou part of whatever culture she immerses herself in. Any active efforts to out her as a non-member suffer a +3 difficulty. Any time she needs to fake a behavior with which she's unfamiliar, she can emulate it if she succeeds at an Intelligence + Etiquette roll. The difficulty depends on the commonalities with her home culture. A culture similar to hers is difficulty 5, most other human cultures are difficulty 7, and cultures that are lost, unnatural, or alien are difficulty 9. With a point of Gnosis, she can temporarily establish relevant Allies and Contacts Background dots equal to her Wisdom dots, divided however she likes. Jam Technology With a slight gesture, the werewolf unbalances the Wyld and Weaver energies within technological devices, either suffusing them with destructive chaos or amplifying their inherent stasis until they refuse to do anything at all. Computers crash, guns jam, cars stall, and even the simplest of shaped objects refuse to function. A gremlin -- a type of Wyld-spirit that enjoys breaking things -- teaches this Gift System: The player spends one Gnosis point, rolls (Manipulation + Crafts) and chooses the level of complexity she intends to jam. All technological devices (i.e. any devices shaped from fabricated materials like metal or plastic) of that complexity within 50 feet (15 m) cease to function for two turns per success. The devices remain unchanged, but inert -- knives won't cut, gunpowder won't ignite, gears won't turn, and so on. The difficulty of the roll is based on the following chart: Mark of the Wolf The werewolf marks those she comes in contact with, leaving them to carry the same aura of the predator the Garou does. This subtle curse can wreak havoc in a target's private or professional life, and is a favorite of many homids looking to provoke discord in the ranks of the enemy. A Lune teaches this Gift. System: The player selects a target that has had some interaction with the Garou during the scene (even something as simple as light conversation in an elevator counts), then rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The target inherits the Curse as though she had a Rage rating equal to that of the Garou for one day per success. Speech of the World This Gift allows Gaia’s warriors to read and wield the spirit of speech, bypassing the need to learn different languages and dialects. The Garou may speak and understand any human language she encounters, though she speaks with an obvious accent, marking her as an outsider. Speech of the World doesn't convey literacy, nor is it an encyclopedia of cultural information. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Intelligence + Academics (difficulty 7). The effect lasts for one scene. Staredown Rage burns in a werewolf'’s eyes, striking fear into the hearts of mortals and animals, causing them to flee for their lives. Used against another werewolf, the target will freeze in place rather than run. A ram- or snake-spirit teaches this Gift. System: This Gift affects only one target at a time. The player rolls Charisma + Intimidation (difficulty 5 + the target's Rank, if applicable). The victim flees for one turn per success, though he may spend a point of Willpower to resist the effects of the Gift for one turn. Should the player roll five or more successes, the victim flees for the rest of the scene. Garou and other shapeshifters with Rage do not flee, but may not attack while the Gift is in use. Weaver’s Eyes ( Changing Ways ) Humanity has a knack for finding patterns everywhere, steeped as it is in the Weaver’s influence. The homid can read the patterns in her enemies’ behavior and the battlefield’s dynamics to predict what will happen next. A Weaver spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, she may wait to declare her character’s action for the current turn until everyone else has done so, regardless of her initiative. She still acts according to the result of her initiative roll, but she has the advantage of knowing what her foes and allies will do before she decides herself. Rank 3 Calm the Savage Beast Even the most callous of homids can sympathize with the Rage that moves their fellow Garou in the final days. This Gift allows the werewolf to lend a frenzying Garou the will to escape her Rage’'s hold over her. It is taught by an ancestor-spirit. System: The player spends a Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). If successful, the Willpower point soothes a frenzying Garou within 30 feet (9 m), canceling the frenzy. By spending an extra point of Willpower, this Gift may affect non-Garou in a state of frenzy, such as other shapeshifters or vampires. Cowing the Bullet The spirits of tools recognize man as their master; as a result, they become reluctant to harm the homid. A Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point. For the rest of the scene, the Garou gains two additional soak dice against all crafted weapons not made of silver. Disquiet Pulling the mercurial tide of the target's emotions to their lowest ebb, this Gift makes its target feel inexplicably depressed and withdrawn. The subject finds his emotions muted and concentration difficult. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy against a difficulty equal to the target's Willpower. If successful, that opponent will be unable to recover Rage for the duration of the scene, and all difficulties for extended actions increase by one. Moreover, the target becomes listless and generally less inclined to stir himself to pursue any action of dubious necessity, such as investigating strange noises. Rally the Troops ( Changing Ways ) Being more than human, the homid can gather people quickly with a single command, bending them to a common task. She can rally a small army to hunt her enemies, preside over a heroic rescue effort during a crisis, or rouse a crowd to heckling a speaker. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The werewolf makes a short rallying cry, command, or speech to a group of non-supernatural humans, and then the player rolls Charisma+Leadership (difficulty 6). The group can range from a few people lingering on a street corner to an audience of up to several hundred, all they need is to hear her. Each success adds one ie to all rolls the player makes in that scene towards accomplishing one task with which the group could conceivably aid her. The difficulty of all these rolls is reduced by one if most of the group are Kinfolk. Individual characters with importance to the story may decline to help, at the Storyteller’s discretion, but even they feel the authority in the Garou’s directive. Reshape Object The Garou can shape once-living (though not undead) material into something else instantly. Trees may become shelter, buck antlers spears, animal hides armor, and flowers sweet perfumes. The item will resemble the object from which it was created (e.g., the aforementioned spear will be made of antler, not wood). A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Crafts against a difficulty defined by the scope and complexity of the transformation (a broken tree limb into a spear would be difficulty 5, while a fallen tree into a canoe would be 8) and spends a Gnosis point. The transformation persists for one scene per success, or permanently with five or more successes. Expending an additional Gnosis point allows a created weapon to inflict aggravated damage for the remainder of the scene in which it is created. Rank 4 Body Shift Garou raised in the shifting maze of human society are well-prepared for the endless adaptations Gaia demands of her protectors. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou can use her shapeshifting to alter her physical Attributes: A dot of Dexterity can be shifted to Strength or Stamina, and so forth. The player rolls Stamina + Primal-Urge (difficulty 9). For each two successes, one physical Attribute dot can be shifted for the rest of the scene. Bury the Wolf The war against the Wyrm isn’t always a matter of slashing claws and righteous fury -- sometimes duplicity is required. A werewolf can temporarily "restrain" her inner wolf and appear to be a normal human. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty of her own Willpower). Success causes the character to appear human to all supernatural scrutiny. The Gift also nullifies the Curse and makes spending Rage impossible, and locks her in homid form so long as its effects persist. The number of successes determines the Gift's duration; to "free the wolf" before that time elapses requires a full turn of concentration and another point of Gnosis. Cocoon The werewolf wraps himself in a thick, opaque, chitinous sarcophagus, immobilizing himself but also becoming nearly impervious to harm. The cocoon provides immunity to fire, starvation, gas, high pressure, cold, and similar environmental hazards. An insect- or Weaver-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou spends one Gnosis point. While the werewolf remains in the cocoon, any attack that strikes him must do damage at least equal to his Stamina + Rituals; the cocoon keeps him safe from any lesser amount of damage, but is destroyed if it's pierced. The cocoon lasts for one day, but its duration may be extended by spending more Gnosis to renew it. The Garou may emerge from it at any time he chooses. Spirit Ward This Gift allows a werewolf to protect herself from spirits by performing a quick warding rite. The werewolf traces an invisible pictogram in the air that frightens and unnerves any nearby spirits, and which travels with the Garou for as long as it persists. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Manipulation + Rituals (difficulty 7). Spirits within 100 feet (30 m) of the character must subtract one from their dice pools for each success. Any spirit that comes within 50 feet (15 m) of the character (except a caern spirit or the character's pack totem) loses one point from its Essence per turn for each success the player rolled. This Gift lasts for one scene. Web of Knowledge ( Changing Ways ) In the Digital Age of humanity, tiny spirits of information and knowledge spring into being every second, flitting between objects of curiosity and carrying with them answers to all manner of questions. The homid can attune herself to these streams of consciousness, circumventing the need for books or special training during an investigation. A Pattern Spider teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point. Once during the current scene, she may roll to perform research or investigation as an instant action instead of an extended one, and without any forensic skills or tools, gleaning answers directly from the interconnections of the spirit world. The roll suffers no penalties if she has no dots in the required Ability. She must begin with a general idea of her topic, and can only learn what she could have learned with an appropriate source of information. She could build a profile of a killer with just the corpse or a murder weapon, but she still must know the basic facts of the murder and won’t learn the killer’s identity. Likewise, she could research an ancient symbol without poring over dusty tomes, but she still must have seen the symbol in a relevant contextand won’t automatically deduce its importance. Rolls of difficulty higher than 7 cannot be made with this Gift, as the information is too obscure. Rank 5 Assimilation A werewolf with this Gift blends smoothly into any culture, no matter how strange or unfamiliar he might normally find it. He could slip among Bedouin nomads as if he were one of them, or he could shop in a Chinese market without anyone noticing that he doesn't belong. The Gift doesn't hide racial differences, but it does allow the werewolf to mimic the behaviors and mannerisms of a native. It also grants the ability to speak and understand the culture's language, although this knowledge vanishes as the Gift ends. It is taught by Ancestor-spirits. System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy. If successful, the character interacts with members of another culture as if he were one of them. The difficulty depends on how alien the culture is. Another Garou sept would be 5, while a Black Spiral hive or foreign country could be as high as 9. The character suffers no Social penalties when interacting with members of the culture, although he will enjoy no special benefits either. The Gift lasts for one scene, plus one day per Willpower point spent when activating it. Beyond Human The Garou is human plus -- Human plus strength, agility and health. Human plus devoted, assured spirituality and meaning. Human plus animal instinct and lightning reflexes. Human plus righteous fury with which to meet the Apocalypse. He is as man, but greater. Every Garou radiates this to some extent, but this Gift warps that perception, changing the Garou from a figure to be avoided to one to be admired or adored. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: Once learned, this Gift's effects are permanent. Humans dealing with the werewolf instinctively pick her out as more desirable, important, and interesting than those around her -- regardless of the character's capacity in such matters. The Curse still applies, but rather than being instinctively feared as a predator, the werewolf becomes an intimidating figure of great presence. Finally, the character may boost her Social Attributes by spending Rage or Gnosis. Each point of either spent raises one Social Attribute by one point for the rest of the scene. Social Attributes may be raised above 5 in this fashion. Part the Veil This potent Gift immunizes a human from the Delirium for a scene. However, the human will forget much of what he knows if exposed to the Delirium at a later date. An ancestor-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Empathy. Only one success is needed.